Creation

Creation stories describe the world’s beginnings through familiar things: water, clay, birth, craft and speech. Through them they ask questions beyond everyday work: where did humans come from, why do they exist, and how do they relate to their maker? These articles examine accounts from Mesopotamia and Egypt, with comparisons to other traditions.

1. Namma

   In Enki and Ninmah, deities complain about hard labour and Namma takes their grievance to her son Enki. Humans are then formed with the help of birth deities. The story begins with workers’ need for relief and uses motherhood to describe the arrival of those who will take on their labour.

2. Enki / Ea

   Enki gives instructions for making humans from clay, with relief from divine labour as the stated purpose. Clay makes formation imaginable through a craftsperson’s work. It also appears in the Quran’s account of human origins, within a different understanding of the Creator, humanity’s place and the purpose of existence.

3. Ptah

   The Shabaka Stone describes creation through heart and tongue: the heart conceives what the tongue speaks. Memphite traditions connect Ptah with crafts and craftspeople, bringing knowledge and work together. His proposed comparison with Arabic fatḥ, opening, offers a reading of the beginning of existence alongside the inscription’s own account.

4. Cosmic Body Pattern

   In some creation stories, body parts become sky, earth, mountains and rivers. This happens to Tiamat in Babylonian tradition, Ymir in Norse tradition and Pangu in Chinese tradition. The familiar body helps describe the world, while the stories differ over how the figure dies and who shapes the world from it.